State Department: New Iran Sanctions Could Hurt Nuclear Talks

A seni­or Obama ad­min­is­tra­tion dip­lo­mat on Thursday pressed U.S. sen­at­ors not to le­gis­late new eco­nom­ic sanc­tions against Ir­an un­til after a mul­ti­lat­er­al meet­ing slated for later this month on the coun­try’s nuc­le­ar pro­gram, The Hill news­pa­per re­por­ted.

“I would hope that you will al­low us the time to be­gin these ne­go­ti­ations [with Ir­an] and see if, in fact, there is any­thing real here,” U.S. Un­der Sec­ret­ary of State for Polit­ic­al Af­fairs Wendy Sher­man told the Sen­ate For­eign Re­la­tions Com­mit­tee. Ir­an would hear “quite dir­ectly that if there isn’t … every­one is ready to act,” ad­ded Sher­man, Wash­ing­ton’s top en­voy to talks between Ir­an and six ne­go­ti­at­ing powers.

The House of Rep­res­ent­at­ives passed le­gis­la­tion in Ju­ly that would ex­pand eco­nom­ic con­straints on non-U.S. com­pan­ies do­ing busi­ness with Ir­an, and the Sen­ate Bank­ing Com­mit­tee is pre­par­ing a sim­il­ar Ir­an sanc­tions bill.

Sher­man is con­cerned about the tim­ing of Con­gress’ de­lib­er­a­tions on such le­gis­la­tion be­cause of a planned Oct. 15-16 meet­ing in Geneva over sus­pi­cions that Tehran’s atom­ic ef­forts are geared to­ward de­vel­op­ment of a nuc­le­ar-arms cap­ab­il­ity. Ir­an’s re­cently in­stalled pres­id­ent has pledged to seek quick pro­gress in the talks, which have dragged out for years in an on-and-off fash­ion.

Still, the House bill’s spon­sor said the Sen­ate should “pass sanc­tions le­gis­la­tion now.”

Do­ing so would “in­crease our ne­go­ti­at­ing lever­age and deny Tehran the re­sources to con­tin­ue its nuc­le­ar pro­gram,” House For­eign Af­fairs Com­mit­tee Chair­man Ed Royce (R-Cal­if.) said on Thursday in re­leased com­ments.

Sep­ar­ately, Sher­man said Wash­ing­ton’s im­ple­ment­a­tion of ex­ist­ing Ir­an pen­al­ties has been “hampered sig­ni­fic­antly” since many gov­ern­ment of­fices closed their doors on Tues­day, The Hill re­por­ted sep­ar­ately.

"Chuck Rosenberg, the acting head of the Drug Enforcement Agency who has found himself and his agency at odds with the Trump administration in recent months, told staff members Tuesday that he is planning to step down from his post." The Obama administration holdover will step down on October 1.

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HAD BEGUN TO PUBLICLY CRITICIZE TRUMP

Sen. Corker to Retire

1 hours ago

THE DETAILS

Another Republican member of Congress is showing himself out the door. After much thought, consideration and family discussion over the past year, Elizabeth and I have decided that I will leave the United States Senate when my term expires at the end of 2018,” said Sen. Bob Corker in a statement. The Tennessean has served since 2006.

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NOT ILLEGAL, BUT MUST BE FORWARDED TO WORK ACCOUNTS

At Least 6 WH Advisors Used Private Email Accounts

1 hours ago

THE LATEST

Jared Kushner, Stephen Bannon, Reince Priebus, Gary Cohn, Stephen Miller, and Ivanka Trump sent or received some emails on personal accounts that related to White House business. "Officials are supposed to use government emails for their official duties so their conversations are available to the public and those conducting oversight. But it is not illegal for White House officials to use private email accounts as long as they forward work-related messages to their work accounts so they can be preserved."

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SAYS CONTACTS WERE “BENIGN”

Stone Releases Correspondence with Guccifer 2.0

1 hours ago

THE LATEST

"Roger Stone, a longtime friend and adviser to Donald Trump, released correspondence Tuesday" with the online hacker known as Guccifer 2.0 , which "U.S. intelligence agencies said was used by Russian government-linked entities to distribute embarrassing information about Democrats during the 2016 election. The disclosures came in a 47-page opening statement made available to reporters in advance of Mr. Stone’s Tuesday appearance in front of the House Intelligence Committee." Stone called his contacts with Guccifer "limited" and "benign."

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PRIEBUS, SPICER, HICKS, MCGAHAN

Mueller Could Start Interviewing White House Figures This Week

1 hours ago

THE LATEST

"Special counsel investigators could start interviewing current and former White House staff as soon as later this week regarding the Russian probe, two sources familiar with the matter tell CNN. One source cautioned it is still being worked out with Robert Mueller's office and said it might be delayed until next week." Among those who could have a sit-down with the special prosecutor: former chief of staff Reince Priebus, former press secretary Sean Spicer, communications director Hope Hicks, White House counsel Don McGahn, communications adviser Josh Raffel and associate counsel James Burnham.